Better Health, Better Living: Yoga with Lisa

“It’s all about your practice, on your mat. It’s your hour to have time for yourself.”

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Lisa Edison has always been active, but she it took it ‘next level’ when she shipped off to Florida for three weeks to learn how to pass on the benefits of yoga to others.

Lisa attended a really intense and challenging 200 hour training course in that state and earned a Certified Yoga Teacher designation. She said it included 12 hours a day in the studio there, in addition to studying, homework and an exam at the end.

You might wonder why Lisa would want to take that on, to study so hard so far from home, but the joy on her face when she talks about yoga says it all:

“Yoga is more meditative. It’s more of an accepting practice. You come in and get on your own mat. I tell people when I start class, ‘don’t worry about what the next person is doing, wearing, thinking, saying.’ It’s all about your practice, on your mat. It’s your hour to have time for yourself. ”

The yoga classes that Lisa has started teaching in Springdale are an initiative of Main Street Medical Clinic, and Lisa’s lessons are held in a building right next door to the clinic at 167 Main Street.

Main Street Medical has been actively promoting overall wellness and preventative measures for better health, and yoga is now an integrated part of that positive strategy. Yoga is known to increase flexibility, relieve stress, and build muscle without ‘pumping iron’ (you simply use your own body weight).

Main Street Medical Clinic is the first primary care practice to offer yoga in Newfoundland and Labrador.

Compared to yoga class prices elsewhere, these classes with Lisa are very well priced: $65 for 10 sessions or $7.50 a class. The lessons have proved popular, with 60-70 people currently signed up.

And the lessons are not what some people might think. Lisa smiled and said:

“People think you have to be able to turn into a pretzel to do yoga, which you don’t. You can any gender, or any body type or any physical condition. We can always modify the pose to you.

I’ve really been trying to start each class with telling everyone to leave their ego at the door. This is an accepting practice. Yoga is non-judgemental. Again, it is really about you on your own mat.”

She added, “Everyone can be at home in their own skin.”

You can register for yoga classes with Lisa Edison at Main Street Medical Clinic (165 Main Street, Springdale, NL). You will be asked to sign a waiver, and you will be given a receipt that you take to your first class. At that point you get a ‘loyalty card’, for tracking your classes.

Currently there are yoga classes two nights a week – Monday and Thursday evenings — more classes may be added in future.